


Miló and Akoúo̱

by attaccabottoni



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-25
Updated: 2016-03-25
Packaged: 2018-05-29 00:28:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6351682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/attaccabottoni/pseuds/attaccabottoni
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Growing up with a legacy to live up to and constantly falling short of it, Jaune knew that the only thing he can claim that he is good at is not meeting people's expectations of him.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Miló and Akoúo̱

**Author's Note:**

> According to the RWBY Wiki, Miló and Akoúo̱ were the names of Pyrrha's weapon and shield. Miló means "speak," and Akoúo̱ means "listen" in Greek.

 

  
  
   
From the first time she saw him, she knew she was not supposed to fall in love with him.

 

 

* * *

 

  
   
Growing up with a legacy to live up to and constantly falling short of it, Jaune knew that the only thing he can claim that he is good at is not meeting people's expectations of him.  
   
Defending Cardin from the Grimm was one. Sure, it had been an unquestionably right thing to do, and the moment he charged that Ursa, he had his team's faith in him in mind. But there was also the selfish streak of his that was pleased after he proved to Cardin that he wasn't that much of a coward as Cardin thought he was.

That frisson of meanness is just an addition to the mounting secrets he is guilty of.  
   
Besides needing to get back on track with his studies, he really has been neglecting his team, so after training well into the evening at the rooftop with Pyrrha, the following morning he decided to corner Ren while he was making another one of his experimental breakfasts. Ren edged slowly away from Jaune in increasing bewilderment as the latter peppered him with continuous questions about what has been happening for the past week that he missed, and the former's experiences in Beacon Academy so far.  
   
"What's the one thing you find most helpful in your studies? What do you find challenging in our classes? If you had the chance to be a professor today, what would you teach the class?"  
   
"Uh, Jaune?" Ren said nervously. "I want to finish making breakfast."  
   
"I can help! What do I do? Hey, is this recipe your secret to being an awesome student?"  
   
There was a pause before Ren gave him a considering look. "I like cooking. I find that it relaxes me. Maybe you could do something like it, since it has been a trying few days for you."  
   
"Relaxing? I don't have time for that! I gotta keep getting better."  
   
"Reeeeen, you better not be putting something weeeeeird in the omelette!"  
   
Ren sighed quietly in relief as Jaune turned to Nora with an enthusiastic greeting followed by a different set of questions.  
   
After the head-spinning whirlwind that was the day's classes, while they were in the cafeteria and Pyrrha was chatting with Team RWBY about the incredibly savage practice spar between Nora and Yang earlier, Jaune took the opportunity to get Ren and Nora's honest opinions.  
   
"Don't you think Pyrrha would work better as the leader for our team?"  
   
"Don't be silly, Jaune!" Nora chirped immediately as she demolished her salmon dinner. "Professor Ozpin knoooows what he's doing, and you're not chosen in the first place just for laughs, you know?" She paused from chewing. "Although, you make the best jokes in our team. That absolutely counts as leadership material in my book!"  
   
Ren was wearing that same considering look he has on his face earlier. "She's right about Professor Ozpin's judgment. Surely that decision wasn't made lightly."  
   
"Yeah! Anyone of us can totally make the cut of team leader, but it wouldn't be the saaaaame. Ren or I would probably won't be as fun to be with if either one of us ended up being the leader." She pointed a fork at her childhood friend. "Ren would probably make us study all the time."  
   
"And Nora would make us play and eat all the time."  
   
Jaune glanced at Pyrrha out of the corner of his eye, then lowered his voice. "What about Pyrrha? Haven't you seriously thought about how she would be as our leader?"  
   
Ren and Nora exchanged a glance, and both of them shrug. "She would probably make us train all the time," they said in unison.  
   
"Without breaks for naps," Nora added with a little moue, before Ruby cut their conversation on hypothetical leaderships short with news about the latest weapon inventions from her former classmates at Signal Academy.  
   
Later that night, in an effort to advance more quickly in their training, Jaune put a lot of force in one downwards slash. But he misjudged his swing so badly, he ended up hitting Pyrrha's shield with the flat of his blade and almost causing the blow to bounce back on his face, if he didn't toss his head to the side before his sword narrowly missed. Winded by an almost close call with his own weapon to his nose, he stepped back so fast, he went out of balance and fell butt-first to the ground.  
   
"I'm sorry!"  
   
Wincing, Jaune raised a hand to wave off the apology, but then he paused.  
   
"Pyrrha, why do you say sorry all the time? I mean, it's not like you're out to hurt people on purpose."  
   
There was a hint of hesitance in the look she gave him, before she laid down her weapon and sat beside him. For a while there was thoughtful silence, then she began speaking carefully.  
   
"Well, I started training as a child, and I enjoyed learning a new technique every day, but took Aura control for granted. Once, I released too much power into my Aura for defense that it caused my sparring partner's attack to bounce back on him, similar to what almost happened earlier, except he got hit by his own gun blade when it went off accidentally. His injury healed, but I became self-conscious of my strength after that. Soon, I was surpassing our combat instructors in Sanctum Academy, then winning the Mistral regional tournament against older contestants, that I was catching attention just by walking on the street. It's a bit easier here in Vale, but it happens so often that I know from the looks I get when I am being measured up against my reputation. When people you don't know already have expectations about you before you even meet them, it became kind of normal to apologize for what I do, just to be on the safe side."  
   
Jaune stared at her in wonder. "And I thought having a prominent lineage is already tough. I can hardly imagine the weight of all those eyes on you. You're not only strong in fighting, you're also so strong in carrying that burden, when you could have let all that fame go to your head, and use that influence to make people do stuff for you like Cardin did to me. It says a lot that you are still kind to people up to now."  
   
Pyrrha looked touched. "I...haven't thought about my situation like that. Thank you."  
   
"It must take a lot of bravery going out your door and facing all that prejudice, even when you're doing so well." Jaune hung his head, sighing. "While I can't manage the coordination not to trip over my own feet before getting out of the shower."  
   
Pyrrha placed a consoling hand on his shoulder. "It won't always be this way. When I was younger, I didn't start out as well-coordinated either."  
   
"That may be true, but not everyone saw all the effort and steps you took to get to this point. What matters is what is visible to everyone right now." Jaune sheathed his sword. "You're the best fighter of this team, Pyrrha. Everybody knows that, though Ren or Nora wouldn't admit it. That's why I have to work a lot harder to show that I am good enough to be the leader of the team."  
   
"Jaune," Pyrrha said softly as she gently pulled at Jaune's shoulder to have him turn towards her. "Your team trusts you. Before Professor Ozpin appointed you as our leader, I believe we have already placed our trust in you while we battled in the Emerald Forest. You have nothing to prove to anyone. Have a little more faith in yourself."  
   
Jaune met Pyrrha's encouraging expression with a face that indicated he was thinking hard on what she said. Then his look brightened. "Tell you what. How about we make a deal? I'll try my best to build real confidence both in studies and in swordplay, while you try your best not to let yourself be hung up on saying sorry way too many times, and we'll both remind each other to relax more and not let what other people think worry us. Much."  
   
Pyrrha's lips curved into a small smile that Jaune, at the back of his mind that was not busy still obsessing about Team JNPR's leadership, decided he found it nice to look at.  
   
"Okay. Deal."

 

 

* * *

 

  
   
If she was like iron, inflexible in her invincibility, he was a lodestone.

 

 

* * *

  
   
  
   
It was after passing their first term finals, watching Nora cheer in front of the bulletin board where their scores were posted and yelling about going out and celebrating, while Pyrrha and Ren exchanged high-fives and laughing at Nora's bouncing around the place, that Jaune realized that the team didn't really need him.  
   
His anxiety had sunk in deeply by the time they were into the second term, when he began feeling like a failure and that nothing was happening. Certainly, he was stronger now, and Pyrrha said he has come a long way from where they started training together. But he was still unable to pull more weight and contribute to the edge that his team has the same way Ren does with their studies, Pyrrha does with their combat skills, and Nora does with her energy and very cool hammer. And his Semblance, whatever it was, seems only useful to him and he can't come up with creative ways to use it in helping others in battle.  
   
It was time for some drastic measures.  
   
"Ren, Nora, I need your help." Jaune gestured at the calendar hanging at the door. "It's exactly one month before the Vytal Festival."  
   
"I already have a dress for the dance, woo hoo! We can go to town and pick the perfect outfit for you no matter if it takes us this whole weekend to find it!"  
   
"I already mapped out our group study schedules for the term. We can review the order of topics once the professors give out their respective exam schedules."  
   
"Guys, that's not what I meant." Jaune frantically ran his hand through his hair. "Just bring your weapons and follow me. I'll explain when we get there."  
   
Nora glanced pointedly out of the window. "Shouldn't we wait until Pyrrha comes back from her morning jog?"  
   
Jaune shifted his feet. "There's a reason we're not telling Pyrrha."  
   
"Where did you say we are going?" Ren asked.  
   
When a very familiar cliff was within sight an hour later, this time Ren asked, "Now will you tell us why we are at the southern edge of the Emerald Forest on a Saturday?"  
   
Instead of answering, Jaune squinted in the direction of the abandoned temple. "See any monster activity nearby?"  
   
"Ooh, I see one!"  
   
Ren looked bemused. "Jaune, what are you planning?"  
   
"Aaand it's seen us!"  
   
Jaune drew his sword and expanded his shield. "We're just in time, then."  
   
Ren followed suit. "Just in time for what?  
   
Nora waved her free hand not holding her hammer in the direction of the approaching Grimm. "Big black birdie heading this way, fast!"  
   
"Here's what I need your help for, guys. I don't think I can make the distance on my own, so wait for my signal."  
   
Nora paused from her enthusiastic arm-flapping. "Okay, what happens at your signal?"  
   
"Throw me at the Grimm."  
   
Nora blinks at him. "WHAT."  
   
"Let's test out my aura, see how much hits I can take."  
   
Ren planted himself in front of Jaune with his hands on his hips. "Do you have a death wish?"  
   
"No no no, listen--"  
   
Ren swiftly pivoted and fired multiple rounds at the shrieking Grimm.  
   
"I DON'T GET IT, WHAT'S THE PLAN?" Nora shouted as she launched grenades at the still recovering Grimm, driving it further away.  
   
Jaune finally had the grace to look abashed. "Maybe a near-death experience could trigger my Semblance?"  
   
"That has got to be," a voice behind them said, each word bit out in between rifle shots, "the STUPIDEST plan ever!"  
   
All three of them turned to see Pyrrha in her running clothes, marching towards them with her weapon in her hand, her face as red as her hair.  
   
"Jaune Arc, what were you thinking?"  
   
Jaune opened his mouth to reply, but another ear-splitting cry caused them all to bring their attention back to the Grimm swooping towards them, so he said, "Everyone get back!"  
   
The ramming attack was successfully dodged, causing the team to split up in separate directions, but the Grimm then proceeded to fly up and hover with its wings spread in a telling manner.  
   
That was when Jaune noticed that he was at the very edge of the cliff, in full predatory view of the Grimm right above him.  
   
"Jaune!" three panicked voices rang out.  
   
As large feathers were shot like arrows in his direction, Jaune brought his right leg to the back, raised the shield in his left hand, and at once, a wave of blinding light emanated from his body and threw back the feathers. One of them hit a wing, making the Grimm screech in pain, and after wobbling, feebly flew back in the direction it came from.  
   
After the disturbed air from the flapping of the Grimm's wings had dispersed, the team looked at each other until Jaune cleared his throat audibly and sheathed his sword.  
   
"As I was saying, um..." he trailed off awkwardly with a hand at the back of his neck.  
   
Pyrrha set her weapon aside and crossed her arms. "Go on, I would love to hear your explanation."  
   
Jaune was visibly sweating. "When I was a kid, my sisters were fed up with me following them all the time, so they conspired together to get me off their tail by bringing me to a party where I didn't know anyone and leaving me there. And that's how I discovered that I was really good at dancing."  
   
Nora gaped at him. "What's that got to do with almost getting yourself killed earlier?"  
   
"You all know my weaknesses, plenty and obvious that they are. I was thinking that if I got myself in a sink-or-swim situation like the way my sisters dumped me into that party, I could bring out my hidden strengths. Since no one knows what my Semblance is, maybe going into an unwinnable fight would activate more of my Aura, like what happened with Cardin."  
   
Ren brought his fist to his chin, thinking. "But that's risky. Why not develop your Aura through training?"  
   
Pyrrha loudly inhaled and exhaled. Then she closed her eyes and rubbed her temple with her free hand.  
   
"So you all went along with this foolhardy scheme because Jaune is too impatient with his progress?"  
   
Ren glanced with trepidation at Jaune's rapidly going bloodless face, sidestepping towards Jaune in case he fainted.  
   
"Er--"  
   
"Wait, don't answer that." Pyrrha took another deep breath. "I. Am. Extremely disappointed. So much, in fact, that I can't think of an appropriate punishment for all of you right now."  
   
"We promise we won't do something like this again without telling you and we're willing to make it up to you for as long as it takes for you to be satisfied that WE'REREALLYSORRY!" Nora blurted out.  
   
"This is my responsibility," Jaune said, stepping forward despite his face was still white with dread. "I'll report all this to Professor Goodwitch, and she'll be the one to decide the consequences."  
   
"That's not right," Ren objected. "We agreed to go with you so it's only fair that we see through the consequences together."  
   
"Or, we can just buy a cake and let Pyrrha have half of it," Nora offered hopefully.  
   
"All right."  
   
It took a while before Nora squeaked, "Really?"  
   
"Cake is a reasonable solution. After all, I cut short my run to follow you all the way here, and now I'm hungry." Pyrrha turned sharply before starting to stride away.  
   
Baffled looks were exchanged among the three.  
   
"That kind of thinking is so me, though," Nora quipped, though more timidly than her wont.  
   
"You're paying, of course," Pyrrha called out at them, prompting the three to run after her.  
   
"Just don't make us report to Professor Goodwitch," Nora rambled in strained merriment. "The last time she yelled at us, she looked one hundred percent done, I thought she was about to use her Semblance to throw us out the window. The next time, she might start resorting to making us clean every inch of floor in Beacon without use of powers. I can see it now..."  
   
Back in Vale some hours later, while Nora and Pyrrha were, it seemed, visiting all the pastry shops in the city, Jaune and Ren sat on a bench in the park bonelessly, like they have just escaped an execution.  
   
"When I was imagining that a life and death situation would be the ticket for me to jump forward in my training, I didn't consider that tempting Pyrrha to shoot me could be one of them." Jaune groaned as he slouched deeper into the bench. "That was so dumb, and I'm so sorry I brought you two with me."  
   
"Pyrrha would never shoot any of us," Ren said, eyes closed.  
   
"But the look of her face, though!"  
   
"She has more self-discipline than fighters twice her age. Have you ever seen her out of control?"  
   
Jaune straightened to a better sitting posture as he sorted through his memory of Pyrrha's gracefulness in action. "Now that I think about it, her movements are controlled in and out of combat, and I've never known her to slip."  
   
"Likely she would not allow herself."  
   
Jaune dropped his chin on his hands. "That's...I don't know, kind of sad."  
   
Ren smiled, though no one was looking in his direction. "And that's why you're our leader, Jaune."  
   
"What's that mean?"  
   
"You have the ability to see your team with your heart. It's an enviable trait, and you're not even aware you're doing it."  
   
" I...don't really see it, but thanks."  
   
Ren opened his eyes and imitated Jean's posture by leaning his elbows on his knees. "Pyrrha was more worried than angry. Back there, she was acting...kind of like a mother hen."  
   
"Heh. Does that mean that I'm the team's Dad?"  
   
"You're the one who said that, not me."  
   
"Hey!" Jaune started to protest, but stopped. "Wait, I don't know what I'm about to say."  
   
"Don't worry, you'll get it eventually."  
   
Jaune scrunched up his face in mock indignation, before letting out a heartfelt sigh. "Nah, I don't have enough control of my Aura to be more useful in a fight. Maybe I'm less of the team's Dad, and more of that unnecessary kid who should accept that he's always going to trail behind people stronger than him."  
   
"Want to know what I think?"  
   
Jaune blinks up in surprise at the kind of question he did not expect to come from a normally reticent Ren.  
   
"Maybe our Aura responds somehow to the way we think about ourselves." Ren looked at his hands, furrowing his brows. "Whenever I think I'm not going to last in a fight, I know my Aura is correspondingly depleted. But sometimes, when I know I'm getting tired but I want to find out if I can push the limits of my endurance a bit further, for whatever reason, it turns out that I can still make it." Ren dropped his hands then looked at Jaune. "I noticed that despite looking uncertain in front of that Nevermore, when you squared your stance, you were able to use your Aura to deflect those feathers that were about to hit you. Do you remember what you were thinking at that moment?"  
   
Jaune looked back through his mind, before shaking his head. "Actually, I don't remember thinking anything at all."  
   
"From what I read in the accounts of some of the great warriors in history, in combat situations they describe that moment as where they instinctively recognize that something else is more important than their fear. That's how they are able to move past their feelings and eventually win."  
   
Jaune widened his eyes. "Wow, that's the first time I heard of something like that! I thought all warriors don't feel fear at all."  
   
Ren put a hand over his eyes. "Maybe if you would read less comic books and more about real life heroes..."  
   
"Comic books have better pictures!"  
   
"You have a point. I can't argue with that."  
   
They met each other's eyes, and then burst out laughing.  
   
"Seriously though, you're really wise."  
   
"I wouldn't say that." Ren smiled as he looked up at the fading sunlight. "Some of us are given the gift of conviction that they are going to do great things, like Nora or Pyrrha. I think people like the two of us are given the task of figuring things out for themselves." Ren reached out and put a hand on Jaune's shoulder. "Whatever happens, our team is still going to keep needing each other."  
   
"You really think so? Even if Nora gets as invincible as Pyrrha? Even if I never find out what my Semblance is?"  
   
"No one has all the answers, Jaune, but even if the greatest warrior ends up besting everyone, there's no point in victory if there's no one to share it with in the end."

 

 

* * *

  
   
  
   
When her world fell at her feet, the only thing left that she knew without a doubt, was that she didn't want to lose what they have between them.

 

 

* * *

  
   
  
   
"... And if you really believe it's your destiny to save the world, you can't let anything stand in your way."  
   
When Pyrrha started crying, Jaune knew it was a signal that he needed to do something. But before he could open his mouth again, something in his gut told him not to give into his feelings of distress. In that gap in time, he recalled stuff Ren had said in one memorable conversation:  
   
_"...that moment as where they instinctively recognize that something else is more important than their fear."  
   
"You have the ability to see your team with your heart."  
   
"Have you ever seen her out of control?"_  
   
"Hey, Pyrrha? I have a plan that could be a thousand times more stupid than throwing myself at a Grimm. Try not to hit me, please?"  
   
Pyrrha's sobs stopped as she lowered her hands from her face in confusion. "What?"  
   
Seeing his opening, and with the same speed used in a life and death situation, he put all the paltry skill that he has into throwing his arms around Pyrrha's waist and gathering her in a crushing hug.  
   
Pyrrha gasped. "Why--"  
   
"You can pretend we're just doing some weird Aura training, if you like. But if you want me to let you go, just tell me. If you don't, just stay here for a while."  
   
"Jaune..."  
   
"I told you before that it must take a lot of bravery for you to go out your door. I haven't been a fighter for long and I'm not yet the warrior that I want to be, while you've been training most of your life, so I may not really understand what you're going through. It's just that, Ren told me once, the greatest warrior may end up besting everyone, and yet there's no point in victory if there's no one to share it with in the end. I consider you a great warrior, one of the best, and though I can't say the same for myself, I want you to be able to share with me not only your victories, but also your pain."  
   
He was surprised when Pyrrha's arms came around him and embraced him back just as tightly. "I want that too, but I'm so scared that I could hurt you without meaning to, and I might not know better to say sorry."  
   
He was mystified by the blanks in that statement and he couldn't come up with an explanation her reactions, but he remembered Ren's equally vague encouragement of, _'Don't worry, you'll get it eventually,'_ and decided to press on.  
   
"You really are scared. I would be too. In a way, I'm a lot more used to it."  
   
"What do you mean?"  
   
Jaune tenderly leaned his head on Pyrrha's. "Not having control, being helpless and vulnerable, not knowing what to do...I think I've lived with fear most of my life, and I've been dependent for so long that I resented myself for it, and I almost ended up resenting you for trying to help me. Now, I've been less of a dummy puffed up with ego, and more of an improved macho with actual muscles to back myself up." Pyrrha hiccupped, which he was going to take as an attempt at a giggle through a tight throat. "Lousy jokes aside, it's because of you that I've changed for the better. Thank you."  
   
"You're wonderful and sweet, Jaune." He felt Pyrrha hide her face in his shoulder and start shaking. "Everything is just hard right now, and I can't trust myself to do what's right."  
   
"You don't have to be careful all the time, Pyrrha. You're strong enough to carry the burden, but you have friends who are waiting to share the load because they also want to give back to you the kindness you've given them when they needed it. You're allowed to need them too."  
   
"I do need you."  
   
Jaune's heartbeat raced, and he threw his excuses and self-doubt aside because Pyrrha needed not just his assurances, but also his honesty. "The first time I met you, you said that I would make a great leader. And I think I was only able to become stronger because I chose protecting what's precious to me more important than whatever I feel." He was blinded by his insecurities all along, and he wanted to give Pyrrha what she deserved. "I want to become a shield, not just for the team, but for your heart as well. And if I'm the shield, you're the sword that gives the team, gives me, the courage to fight. Saving the world is important, but you're important too. Let us protect you, for once. You don't have to be alone in your destiny, because we can choose to keep fighting together."  
   
With that, Jaune felt that he didn't need to say anything else. As Pyrrha started relaxing in his hold, he decided to thank Ren and Nora at the soonest opportunity, and resolved to let his heart do more of the talking from now on.  
   
"My life is already intertwined with someone, and so are my choices," Pyrrha said under her breath.  
   
"Huh?"  
   
Pyrrha tilted herself back to look at him in the eye. "Jaune, I am going to speak to someone about an important decision. Will you come with me?"  
   
"Sure."

 

 


End file.
